Signifiers do not primarily refer to the signified; rather, passing the signified by, they condense into a beautiful, mysterious, seductive body. Reading is not a hermeneutic but a haptic act, a touch, a caress. Reading snuggles up to the skin of the poem. It enjoys the poem’s body. The poem, as a body, makes us feel a special presence beyond the realm of representation, the realm to which hermeneutics is dedicated.
